AN ENGLISH FARMER. 39 



jogging home from a good run, you pass his door, 

 accept his hearty offer of a rest and a glass of his sound 

 ale. Up the lane there, past the straw yard, where 

 probably a foal and a couple of colts are plodding 

 about in the deep litter, and put up your horse in the 

 stable, where in the loose box lives the good old brood 

 mare that would have won the Grand National but for 

 a series of misfortunes which Tom will detail to you, 

 and which are perfectly convincing beyond all question, 

 to him at any rate. 



Your beast may safely be committed to the charge of 

 the old labourer who does duty as a groom, a type of 

 sturdy agriculturist that is not to be beguiled by the 

 winsome tongue of any agitator. 



One of Tom's men was tempted to join a branch of 

 Mr. Arch's institution some years ago, but grew tired 

 of paying shillings for the benefit of gentry unknown, 

 and at last the fact leaked out to the no small satisfac- 

 tion of his companions, whose faculty for producing 

 jokes is small, and who are thus provided with a jest 

 for life. Wlien any pecuniary matter is under dis- 

 cussion, it is the fashion to refer to this honest yokel as 

 a millionaire who had so many shillings that he did 

 not know what to do with them ; and to make similar 

 little jokes which go a wonderfully long way, and cause 

 a wholly disproportionate amount of laughter as the 

 men sit on the ale-house bench, or stow away their 

 provisions in Tom's servants' kitchen. 



It is into the other kitchen that Tom will conduct 



